Across the Aisle

The Seven-Year Journey of the Historic Montgomery GI Bill

G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery

Publication Year: 2011

Using gentle humor, some 450 visuals, and debate drawn from actual legislative events, the late U.S. Congressman G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery helps readers relive the Montgomery GI Bill's 1987 enactment, while learning each step of the way.

Across the Aisle's extensive illustrative material brings the legislative process alive, as readers travel the historic legislative road with Congressman Montgomery himself as escort, storyteller, mentor, and colleague.

Congressman Montgomery served his Mississippi constituents for thirty years. Twenty-eight of those years included service on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, fourteen years as its chairman. Montgomery and a handful of colleagues understood that the success of our all-volunteer military would hinge on a permanent "GI Bill" education program.

Indeed the Montgomery GI Bill has proven to help America on many fronts, including postsecondary education and training, national security, military recruiting, workforce and youth development, economic competitiveness, and civic leadership.

Sonny’s Travel Tools

Sonny’s Learning Objectives

The Legislative Journey

Chapter 1. This is “Sonny:” Honorable Bill Cohen

My friend Bill Cohen, a former Secretary of Defense, United
States Senator, and Representative, graciously highlights in his
own words my nearly 40 years in public life. This included 30
years representing Mississippi’s Third Congressional District,
chairing the Veterans’ Affairs Committee for 14 years, and
serving under seven presidents. Secretary Cohen also speaks...

Chapter 2. The World War II GI Bill:The Legacy Begins

Knowing the unemployment and poverty that many of his
fellow veterans faced in 1918 after World War I, Harry
Colmery of The American Legion drafted the World War II
“GI Bill of Rights” in December 1943. Although there were
several champions of the “GI Bill” in Congress, the list of
opponents initially included university presidents, labor...

Chapter 3. The World War II GI Bill and Beyond:The Legacy Continues

The GI Bill was arguably our most successful domestic
program ever. We’ll learn from author Michael Bennett that
part of “America’s postwar motivation was fear; fear of
another economic depression and what might happen to the
country when we dumped 12 million troops into an economy
potentially...

Committees and subcommittees are like “little legislatures”
because they take the lead in drafting laws in their areas of
responsibility, such as veterans’ affairs, armed services,
international relations, judiciary, education/the workforce,
and small business. When...

Chapter 5. 1980-1983 Road to Enactment: How to Fix a “Hollow” Army

When both the drafting of 19-year-old males and the Vietnam
Conflict ended in early 1973, our military had great difficulty
persuading young people to enlist. Congress ended the noncontributory
Vietnam-era GI Bill for new enlistees as of
December 31, 1975, and created a new, contributory, but
ineffective Veterans’ Educational...

Chapter 6. Late Spring 1984 Road to Enactment: House Passes a New GI Bill Unopposed

Under Title VII of H.R. 5167, the proposed Department of
Defense Authorization Act for 1985, the House Committee on
Armed Services, of which I was a member, approved on April
19, 1984, a new GI Bill educational assistance program for
military personnel effective October 1, 1984. The full House
approved this provision...

In this chapter, on June 11, we’ll see the Senate debate
extensively the test Citizen-Soldier Education Program,
proposed by Senator John Glenn, as an amendment to The
Omnibus Defense Authorization Act of 1985 (S. 2723). Also in
this chapter, on June 13. in the first of six votes on the Glenn
amendment that day, the...

Following robust debate by both sides, Senators Armstrong,
Cohen, Cranston, Hollings, and Matsunaga prevailed in the
second vote. They overcame efforts by Senators Glenn, Tower,
Simpson, and Nunn to have the Senate table the Armstrong
bill, which was conceptually similar to H.R. 1400, as passed by
the House. The Armstrong...

The 31 House-Senate conferees accepted neither the New GI
Bill provisions of H.R. 1400 approved by the House in its
version of the DoD Authorization Act nor the version
approved by the Senate in the New GI Bill Program
amendment. The wee-hours Conference Committee produced
a...

Chapter 11. 1985-1986 Road to Enactment: Implementing the Three-Year New GI Bill Program

Just six months into the three-year test of the New GI Bill,
limited to service members entering military service between
July 1, 1985, and June 30, 1988, 70 percent of Army enlistees
signed up for this new education benefit. Almost four times as
many enlistees signed up for the New GI Bill in its first year
than for VEAP in its first...

When we introduced H.R. 1400 in 1981, we had just five
original cosponsors. When we introduced H.R. 1085 in 1987,
we had 174 original cosponsors. From its beginnings on July
1, 1985, through early 1987, the New GI Bill test program
showed recruiters could penetrate the college-oriented
population of young Americans....

The House’s 401-2 passage of H.R. 1085 on March 17, 1987,
and the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s February 26,
1987, 11-0 mark-up of S. 12 serve as backdrops to the Senate
Armed Services Committee hearing held on S. 12 March 24,
1987....

We conclude the almost seven-year journey with four
culminating events: First, the Senate approving S. 12 as
amended on May 8, 1987; second, the House and Senate
resolving minor differences between S. 12 and H.R. 1085, as
amended on May 13, 1987; third,...

Surveys consistently show the Montgomery GI Bill is the
primary incentive to which military enlistees respond and
that we continue to recruit youth of uniformly high quality.
National study group reports of 1997, 1999, and 2001 all
warned of the need for a strong military to protect the United
States from attacks by rogue...

Initiative breeds opportunity, Alan Cranston said. Surveys
show that military service gives young Americans a four-year,
post-service education and training benefits some could not
have afforded otherwise. More than 2.3 million veterans have
used the Montgomery GI Bill since 1985. At the collegiate level,
about 45 percent of those are enrolled in programs for two year...

While the mortgage crisis with U.S. banks has adversely
affected the world economy and us at home, America’s
economy has historically shown remarkable resilience,
flexibility, and the ability to rebound even stronger. The
challenge to America’s world economic leadership has never
been greater. If we are going to grow and compete in a world
economy...

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